(The Associated Press circulated the following article on June 17.)
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Amtrak remains an option for travelers trying to avoid high gasoline prices. But for how much longer?
University of Alabama student Jamie Laroway said he would spend nearly $200 for the two tanks of gas it takes to visit his girlfriend in Baton Rouge. Instead, he bought a $64 roundtrip Amtrak ticket to New Orleans and met her there, leaving his truck parked in Tuscaloosa.
“This is the first time I’ve taken a train,” he said Friday, waiting to board at the Tuscaloosa train depot. “I’ll probably do it again because it’s so cheap.”
During the 2005 fiscal year, 48,694 people chose train travel in Alabama. Of those, 32,853 were in Birmingham. The Tuscaloosa station had 9,436 passengers board or alight, Anniston had 4,935, Mobile had 1,215 and Atmore had 255, according to Ross Capon, director of the National Association of Rail Passengers.
Supporters of the troubled Amtrak passenger railroad in Congress have fought to save a federal subsidy for Amtrak.
Bill McFarland of Tuscaloosa is the chairman of the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission, a group formed by Congress to promote rail service in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. SRRTC had a resolution for Congress to support full funding for Amtrak on its meeting agenda Friday night in New Orleans.
“This is pure speculation on my part, but I don’t think the danger is really there that they would cut funding enough to shut it down,” McFarland told The Tuscaloosa News for a story Saturday.
McFarland said rail travel is an option for people who do not own cars or cars in good enough condition to take on long trips.
Amtrak comes under attack because the government provides money directly to the rail service. But airlines use municipal airports that employ government workers and buses travel on federal highways, McFarland said.
“It’s all federally subsidized in one fashion or another. It all comes from different sources,” he said.
The White House recommended $900 million for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, but the House voted, 266-158, on Wednesday to give Amtrak just over $1.1 billion.
The Senate, where Amtrak has strong bipartisan support, is expected to take up the Amtrak subsidy later this summer.
Officials have warned for many years that the Crescent Line that travels between New York City and New Orleans, and stops in Tuscaloosa, could end because of low ridership and concerns about whether too little funding.
But there are no plans now to close the line, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. The company is reviewing routes, but he would not speculate on the future of the Crescent.
“We’re engaged in a clean sheet look at the national network, but the results of that process aren’t available yet,” he said.